Intelligent Zombie-like Horror

Rating: 9/10 (6 September 2005)

Usually, when a genre begins to spoof and make meta-comments about itself, it means that the genre is dying. This was the case with Westerns and musicals, but somehow, the meta-flick "Scream" and the spoof series "Scary Movie" seem to have revitalized the horror genre. The last few years have seen a number of fresh new angles on the horror archetypes, including "The Others," "The Ring" and "Dawn of the Dead." The best of the new crop of re-energized horror/thrillers is definitely "28 Days Later." The premise of the film is that a bio-engineered virus turns regular humans into mindless, hungry killers, turning England into a post-apocalyptic war zone in the space of 28 days. During this time, Jim (Cillian Murphy, of "Batman") has been in a coma. He wakes up in this nightmare, and with the help of some fellow survivors tries to find a way to escape.
The movie was criticized by "Shaun of the Dead" (also brilliant) for not being a true zombie movie: the zombie-like monsters are not dead, and they move with uncharacteristic speed. Still, the premise of the comatose hero was stolen gracefully in Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead" comic, and in the forward to that comic, it says that what defines a good zombie story, more than anything, is the way human protagonists react to their situation-- when everything we have ever known, and ever wanted, becomes useless, how do we keep going?
That is what makes this movie spectacular. Indeed, the zombies are not even the scariest villains-- the things that man does to man (and a little girl) in this movie are much more horrifying. At the same time, characters must sacrifice themselves to save the innocent, they must steal in order to survive, and at every step, they must question their morals, their priorities, and discover what makes them human. This film is a tremendous achievement, intelligent and gripping, that can be enjoyed by fans of genre and mainstream movies alike.